Math tutoring program adds up for Middleboro 5th-graders

In just five months, a tutoring program has increased the test scores of a dozen fifth-grade students by an average of 75 percent.

By Alice C. ElwellEnterprise correspondent

MIDDLEBORO – In just five months, a tutoring program has increased the test scores of a dozen fifth-grade students by an average of 75 percent. The nonprofit program, founded by Matthew M. Bruce and funded by the local Rotary Club, provided $4,000 for after-school tutoring once a week in mathematics.

It ran from November through March, including one student from each fifth-grade class at the Mary K. Goode and the H. B. Burkland elementary schools.

Bruce, an investment counselor from Bournedale with an office in Middleboro, has a long history of charity work and is on the board of directors for several Boston-based non-profit groups.

He’s not an educator, but has an ear to education, enhanced by his fiancée, a teacher at Kingston Elementary School.

“I can speak the lingo,” Bruce jokes.

Bruce says the gap between affluent and non-affluent families can be detrimental to a child’s education. He believes tutoring is the key to catching students before they fall through the cracks.

The Newton schools have long been ranked as among the best in the country. But Michael Striar, who once ran from mayor of Newton, says the Newton schools are assisted by parents who come up with the money to pay for tutoring.

Bruce said the cost prevents many parents in Middleboro from hiring personal tutors, so he tackled the problem. One night, he came up with a business plan and jotted it down.

The Rotary Club, where he is president, agreed to fund the Rotary Educational Assistance Program, and the school administration jumped on board.

If Bruce has his way, it will be made available to every student in the system eventually, since he has seen the remarkable progress of a dozen elementary students who were in danger of falling behind in mathematics.

Alex Freitas was one of those students on the cusp of failure. He was a new kid in town and falling behind in math, said his father Richard Giampietro.

“I was having trouble with division,” Freitas said. “I was a little bit nervous because I didn’t really know how to do most of the math.”

But after five months in the program, he said, “Now my math grades are definitely rising.”

“I feel better about myself,” he said.

The youngster flies model airplanes and said his new math skills will help him calculate the range of his controller and he can fly the plane.

“Fifth-grade math is not what it used to be,” said Vanessa Vigna, who was an instructor along with Keeley Lombardi.

In addition to higher scores, both teachers agreed the program transformed anxiety into confidence and students began to participate more in class. As test scores rose, the students began to realize they could succeed.

Bruce is ready to start fundraising to establish a program that would make tutoring available to every student in Middleboro, but needs the go-ahead from the school administration. He’d like to broaden the program to include English and Science.

“I know the big companies that can come up with the cash,” Bruce said.